Opening Verse
Three moons slipped through silent skies,
Their light uncalled, their song untold.
Now, in their wake, the fallen rise—
To forge a rhythm brave and bold.
The Return to Ruin (Rin, Kael, Velza)
Rin's boots pressed into ash-strewn earth as dawn broke in bruised purple over Syr'khan's northern wastes. Beside him, Kael's gaze flicked from shattered watchtowers to collapsed pavilions—fortresses now graves. Behind them, Velza hobbled on borrowed courage, one arm swathed in bloodied cloth.
"Three moons," Velza rasped, each word a cracked drumbeat. "You disappeared three moons ago."
Rin felt the world tilt. "We… we thought it was days."
Velza's laugh was brittle. "Days died in those moons. The North Barracks fell into ruin. Command sent those of us 'out of rhythm' into the frontline—flawed instruments to be silenced." She coughed, eyes hard. "Sera and Brann pulled what they could south. The rest… vanished."
Kael's jaw clenched. "We have to find them."
Velza's gaze sharpened on Rin. "Don't think they need legends. They need flesh and bone. Someone who can stand in the smoke, not vanish into myth."
Rin bowed his head. "Then I'll stand. Not as a story, but as me."
Kael crossed his arms. "No blind faith. Only action."
Velza offered a thin smile. "That— I can believe in."
The Southern Cliff Path (Sera & Brann)
Far to the south, on the narrow ledges above Frostmarrow Ravine, Sera scanned the horizon through cracked binoculars. Brann paced behind her, every thump of his boot a conversation with grief.
"We've held them off twice," Brann said. "But they learn."
Sera lowered the glass. "They learn our patterns. Next time, they'll break through." She studied the frozen cliffs. "We need distance. The Remnants are running low."
Brann stopped. "They trusted Rin to be their savior. Now what do they trust?"
She met his eyes. "They trust us. They have no choice." She turned and called to the five survivors crouched behind crates and boulders. "Pack up! We move in thirty breaths!"
A young cadet, face streaked with soot, whispered to another, "Do you think he'll come?"
Brann answered before Sera could: "He will—if he's earned the right."
Sera added, "Until then, we earn ours."
They melted into the shadows of the cliff path, leading their ragged band against the dying light.
Fireside Resolve (Rin, Kael, Velza)
That night, beneath a shattered canopy, Rin and Kael set a meager fire. Velza leaned on a log, staring into the flicker.
Kael broke the quiet. "They're alive, Sera and Brann. But they're stretched thin."
Rin stirred the embers. "I failed them by drifting away."
Velza's eyes softened. "You didn't choose to vanish. But you chose to return. That's what matters now."
Rin looked up. "I have to prove I deserve to stand beside them again. Not as myth, but as comrade."
Kael nodded. "Then at first light, we march south. We'll catch their trail before the champion does."
Velza managed a nod. "And when we meet—no more waiting for legends. Just blades and hearts."
Rin closed his eyes, drawing breath. "We'll earn their trust. Together."
Closing Verse
No canon calls this broken song—
No crown commands the stray refrain.
But where the ashes drifted long,
A new rhythm rises in their name.